Learn Italian Wine
When it comes to buying wine for tonight’s dinner, what country comes to mind?
If it’s Italy, you are keeping in step with most wine consumers in the USA. Most Americans look to Italy for wine, and the country is one of the most popular of all the European countries for wine imports.
For this reason alone, it’s important to learn Italian wine so you know what to order in restaurants when you are out with friends, clients, or family.
Or maybe you just want to know the key styles of wine around Italy, and this is your reason to learn Italian wine.
Why? Think about the refreshing, bright flavors of Pinot Grigio for white wine lovers and the delicious berry flavors of the red Chianti Classico wine from the Sangiovese grape variety.
Here is the thing – you will find hundreds of grape varieties in Italy, most of them unknown to Americans.
You can learn Italian wine from just searching in wine shops and talking to clerks.
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Learn Italian Wine: Discovering Italian Wine Regions and Wine: Podcasts
Today podcasts are the exciting new method of discovering wine. You can begin your journey by focusing on an individual grape or region, and work your way up from there.
Virtually all English-language, wine-oriented podcasts have an episode focused on Italian wine. Yet the Italian Wine Podcast makes Italian wine its focus.
Monty Waldin produces and hosts these episodes that help you learn Italian wine by focusing on Italian regions, Italian wines, and Italian winemakers.
One of my favorite podcasts is told from the point of view of Karoline Walch. The last name might be familiar to you. Her mother, Elena Walch, founded the iconic Elena Walch wine estate in Alto Adige.
**See the Original Forbes.com Article Here**
This is one of many podcasts that helped me learn Italian wine via the story of how strong-willed Elena Walch. She was raised in fashionable Milan, Italy, and then studied architecture Venice. Eventually she launched a successful architectural practice in Bolzano, the capital of Northern Italy’s Alto Adige.
Then she married a gentleman whose family owned one of the most classic wineries in Alto Adige. Enchanted by the world of wine and the possibilities for the estate, she modernized the family winery and became its winemaker.
Now the keys to the winery have passed to Karoline Walch – as well as her sister Julia.
In the episode, Karoline Walch tells us the dramatic story of this family estate – through it we vicariously experience it.
Another excellent podcast features Marilisa Allegrini of Allegrini Estates in Valpolicella.
Have you ever had a delicious Amarone wine? Chances are that it was made by the Allegrini family. The wine is exported heavily to the USA.
In this fun podcast, Marilisa helps you learn Italian wine via pasta — yes, Marilisa helps wine expert Stevie Kim all about pasta.
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Take an Italian Wine Online Class
When most Americans think about Italy, they imagine its shape (yes, including the “boot” we learned about in 4th grade). They might also think about “pasta” and “gelato” besides “wine.”
For Geralyn Brostrom, Italy is all about wine. A highly credentialed Italian wine specialist, Geralyn organized voyages to Italy with the Society of Wine Educators, then became the Italian wine buyer for a wine shop.
Winebow recognized her skills and hired her as the VP of Education. Her daily life revolved around training staff and distributors about Italian wine.
Then in 2013 Geralyn and her husband launched Italian Wine Central in 2013.
This is an excellent resource for wine education. You can choose between two online programs. One is an introductory course called Discovering Italian Wine. The other is a certification course called the Italian Wine Professional.
Discovering Italian Wine is the best choice for a consumer starting to learn Italian wine.
One can take the course at their own pace. Students can taste the recommended wines from the suggestions of the Italian Wine Central.
Learn Italian Wine: Italian Wine Professional
This online class is very intense, and focuses on every exporting company in Italy.
The majority of the students are from the wine trade, from shops and companies focused on Italian wines.
Yet the class also attracts highly engaged wine consumers.
Though it was not absolutely necessary for me to take the class, given my profession as a fine wine writer, I wanted to learn more about high-end Italian wines.
And since a 3-day “live” class was being offered a day before I read about it, I took the plunge.
This was a rather unique class, in that these 3 days were centered on tasting the wines of all the Italian regions. The “book learning” would happen over the next few months online.
In my group of about 12 participants most were in the wine trade, but a few were passionate collectors of Italian wine who wanted formal training in the wines of Italy.
The book learning that came later was very rigorous. The exam was quite challenging. Yet I passed – and so did 400 others.
If you love Italian wine, and really want to learn about all the different regions, this is a great course. You can also check out the comprehensive book accompanying the Italian Wine Professional course, Into Italian Wine, on Amazon.
Learn Italian Wine: Michele Shah The Travel Expert
For helping journalists and others learn Italian wine, many Italian wine regions consider Michele Shah as their “go to” expert.
Michele Shah has some advise helping just regular wine lovers learn Italian wine.
“Start with a region, and go from there,” says Michele, a big fan of Piedmont and Barolo. She loves the Barbera grape from that region for being fresh and fruity, along with being affordably priced. Michele is also a fan of Nerello Mascalese used to produce Etna Rosso, the volcanic red wine from Sicily.
translucent color and bright, refreshing acidity.
With online classes and free podcasts, what a great time to study Italian wine.
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If you like this article you will like:
— Dominus Estate
— Chappellet Family Winery
— Hess Collection
— Frog’s Leap
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About Author Marisa D’Vari
D’Vari contributes to Forbes.com, Financial Times, World of Fine Wine, Quarterly Review of Wine, Decanter Robb Report, San Francisco Chronicle, South China Morning Post, and more.
She holds the (WSET) diploma, Certified Sommelier through the Court of Master Sommeliers, a Certified Wine Educator through the Society of Wine Educators … to see it all, please click on bio
Here’s a video showing some classic Italian regions to learn Italian wine